I thought TFA wasn’t bad, but it certainly had a lot that hindered my enjoyment for the movie. It relied heavily on the OT and did not establish anything new for the most part (Rebels vs Empire, Resistance vs First Order, big superweapon that needs to be basically taken out in a trench run). Sure, there are stuff like the Knights of Ren and Snoke (calling it that he’s Plagueis) and how the Dark Side was handled, and there is a lot more I’m hoping to see in the future. It’s just that there’s a lot that irks me.

Personally, I thought the film should have been more of a race to find Luke Skywalker. The Starkiller base is not a superweapon, but just a base of operations, one of many, for the First Order (if you want, you could have them be building it and it’s not finished). Rey should first be shown to have already discovered her Force powers, but is having trouble trying to concentrate/gain control/whatever. Get another ship to be the Falcon of the Sequels, not the Falcon itself. Show more Jedi who survived Kylo Ren’s betrayal and are now working with the Resistance against the First Order. Also, hint at the Republic secretly supporting the Resistance, outside of Leia. Don’t let the film just be action scene after action scene.

That’s all I have right now. I might come up with more later on.